68 • DR. HOOKEE AND DE. THOMSON'S PE^CUESORES 



Fructus ? — Arbor v. frutex ramulis suhteretibzis ; foliis oppo- 



sitis, exstipulatis, coriaceis; inflorescentia terminali cymoso- 



paniculata, ramis decussatim oppositis\ floribus pedicellatis, 

 suhfasciculatis. 



1. Saxieeaga, L. 



"With the solitary exception of S. ligulata, which is found also 

 in the Khasia Mountains, aU the Indian species are natives of the 

 temperate and alpine regions of the Himalaya and Tibet, affecting 

 precisely similar situations to what they do in Europe and the 

 Arctic regions; and several of the species, as >S'. JiemispJicerica^ 

 imhricata, saginoides, and Jacquemontiana, attain the extremest 

 limit in altitude of vegetation. The number of species seems to 

 increase in the Eastern Himalaya, 28 being found to the eastward 

 of Central Mpal, and only 24 to the westward of that meridian, 

 of which latter several are not found west of Kumaon, whilst the 

 unexplored Eastern alpine regions of Bhotan, Abor, &c. may be 

 expected to yield many novelties. Of the Himalayan species we 

 have referred seven to European ones, with tolerable confidence ; 

 they are, S.Jlagellaris, granulata, cernua, Sibirica, orientalis, oppo- 

 sitifoUa, and Hir cuius, of which all but the first and last are 

 exclusively Western Himalayan. The remainder, with the excep- 

 tion of S. ramulosa, which approaches >S'. ccesia and aretioides, and 

 S. ciliata, which is closely allied to the Siberian S. crassifolia, are 

 all very distinct from the species of other countries. 



The following synopsis of the Indian Saxifrages requires a little 

 prefacing. "We do not offer it as being at all likely to be unin- 

 fluenced as to its results by future discoveries. Saxifrages are 

 more numerous in species and as frequent in individuals, in the 

 Himalaya as in the Alps and Pyrenees, and analogous differences 

 in opinion as to what should be considered distinct types amongst 

 these, will be encountered by Indian botanists, when the suites of 

 Himalayan specimens are as copious and accessible as the European 

 are. It is true that the most puzzling group of all, the divided- 

 leaved Dactyloides, does not perhaps exist in the Himalaya, but it 

 is compensated for by the number and abundance of the Hirculus 

 section, which is apparently scarcely less variable. Our materials 

 have been three different times very carefully studied, at distant 

 intervals ; and the results of the second and third examinations have 

 led to almost identical conclusions as to the number and limits of 

 the forms. These limits are no doubt in some cases artificially 

 drawn ; the absence of connecting links in our collections, the de- 



